When I first started couponing, I couponed out of a necessity. I had lost my job and my husband was self employed which meant we never had a steady stream of income coming in. Our finances were a mess and every month we struggled to make ends meet. So, when I first discovered the joys of couponing, I was in a position where I literally had no choice but to coupon. I had to save money on my grocery and drugstore bills in order to pay the other bills that we owed each month. It was a necessity and every single penny I saved mattered. After I really became good at couponing, I saved so much money each month that not only were we able to pay our bills, but we were able to start to slowly pay down some of the debt that we had racked up. So, our goals transfered from survival mode to paying off debt. And, we were even able to put some of the money we saved towards a vacation which we NEVER would have been able to taken years and years ago.
I have one reader who emailed me and told me that she didn’t need to coupon – she made $250,000+ a year. But she couponed week in and week out because she understood the value of the dollar and she refused to pay full price on anything when there were coupons she could use. And, she couponed as a ministry as she gave away many of the items she purchased each week to her church’s soup kitchen or to her friends in need. Some of you are couponing so that you can save up for a vacation. Or a car. Or you are couponing just so that you can put some money into savings. So please share why you are couponing! We all have such unique stories and unique reasons for couponing and I would love to hear yours! As you all leave comments, I will update this post with a list of all of our reasons.
Updated Reader Reasons for Couponing (feel free to read the comments below for full responses or take a look at the bullet points below):
- Coupon to cover pay cuts, mortgages and schooling for kids.
- Save money towards starting a family.
- Coupon to cover expenses of a family of 6 after remarriage.
- Coupon for the challenge
- Coupon to donate to shelters
- Coupon to pay off school loans
- Coupon to help with expenses while unemployed
- Couponed after watching Extreme Couponing
- Coupon as a hobby
- Coupon to avoid being a “starving student”
Thanks for coming to Addicted to Saving! Here’s a little bit about me so you can know who’s behind all these posts!
My name is Liza and I began my money-saving journey in the Spring of 2009 as a way to stretch a limited household income. I had lost my job and my hubby was self-employed. I launched Addicted to Saving in November of 2009 and it has grown by leaps and bounds. Since then, my hubby and I have struggled with the ups and downs of two failed adoptions and are now LOVING being parents to our little man Asher who we brought home from Ethiopia in August of 2013. I feel incredibly blessed to be able to help you save money. My goal is that you will have FUN and become empowered to save more and more money each week..
I coupon because if I didn’t, we would be eating sandwiches every night. Between my husband going from a good job to one that pays half his previous salary, putting the kids through Christian school and having two mortgages, couponing is a necessity. We used to spend between $100-150 a week at Walmart. Now I feed my family of four on $30 a week.
I work full time as does my husband (who is also in law school). I coupon to keep myself busy while my husband is studying. Hopefully we will have some money saved up when we are ready to start a family.
On a side note, thank you, thank you, thank you for your blog! I couldn’t do it without your deal match ups ect.
When I was younger, my parents struggled each week to purchase groceries. I can remember my mom trying to make ends meet, and still to this day, do not know how she managed to do it for a househould of 6.
In 2001 I became a single mom, not getting any child support and I had 3 kids. I worked, but sometimes i would find myself going to the church for groceries. I just couldn’t make it!
Last year I got married, and my household of 4 became a household of 6, all 4 of the kids are teenage eating machines! As if that wasn’t enough on our grocery bill, my husband found out he was diabetic, and has many dietary restrictions. We could only budget between $100 and $125 a week, including hygiene and dog food, and with teenagers, just the money we spent in razors and body wash and deodorant was killing me! I was finding that the specifics my husband needed for groceries were consuming half of our allotted grocery money, and had to do something to be able to still get him what he needed and still feed the rest of our family. One thing led to another and coupons became a necessity to be able to accomplish both.
My daughter in law and I both got into couponing together, and now support each other, share deals, and she is actually the one to find this amazing web site! It has made a huge difference in our lives, and I am so thankful!!! What a blessing!
I recently just started couponing. I started at first for a new challenge, as well to save some money here and there. It’s just husband and I and we’re saving to start a family. I feel like it’s good practice for when that day comes. I’ve gotten pretty good at it in just a few short weeks, so now I’m able to donate a bunch of stuff to some local shelters. I’m really excited about this and I can’t wait to continue. Plus I really don’t love the challenge.
I began couponing when my husband and I first got married. We took one look at our $68,000 worth of student loans and the $400 payments that came with it… and realized there is no way we could do it! We both work jobs that don’t require a degree and we are barley getting more than minimum wage! So, we began our debt snowball and threw every single penny we had at our loans. We have now paid off around $10,000 in one year… and we are so proud! We could not have done it without couponing. Before coupons, we made weekly trips to Walmart that easily cost us $150 every week. Now, we are spending about $200 A MONTH on everything, including toiletries, cleaning products, food, etc…. Thank you for all that you do!!
I coupon out of necessity, it’s just me and my daughter, she works as I can’t due to health. only just started couponing 2 months ago. my daughter thought it was a waste of time until I came home this sunday with over $20.00 in products and only spent $1.09 in sales tax. now she’s a believer, so am I.
this just goes to show you can teach an old dog new tricks.
thank you for all you, I hope you realize how many people you help.
Karen
To be completely honest I started using coupons because of the show on TLC. I looked fun, but it was hard in the beginning. Cleared shelves and not double checking the newspapers till I got home. I learned quick the tricks of the trade. It kinda felt like black Friday shopping for Christmas. I started slow and attended the meeting you had in New Port Richey. You couldn’t have been more right. I needed to master one thing at a time. I’ve been couponing since April. I’m up to 52% on my grocery bill. I have CVS done and try to avoid walgreens ugh what a nightmare every week. I’m still learning and increasing my insert stack like you told me to do. I feel like rainman at times, but I’m getting it. I also have to thank you for the blog and all the match up help. My hubby has PTSD from being hurt in Iraq freedom and my son has autism. I didn’t know that the couponing and finding deals were going to help take my mind of things. It has been a sweet escape. Thank you for all you do for us. I truly appreciate it.
I coupon because if I didn’t I would be a starving student. I didn’t want to take out too much in student loans and I knew I could cut my costs in other areas of my life. I didn’t want to have to eat Ramen Noodles every night, so I started clipping coupons! I was frugal throughout college in every area of my life. I recently graduated and I keep up the couponing because it’s become a way of life. I *rarely* buy products with out coupons and because of my habits the last 2 years, I only have $7k in college loans.
When I first started it was basically so we could survive. We were living on one income and barely made ends meet. I pretty much lived in fear all the time that something would happen and what little we did have left over every week would have to be spent on something other than groceries. It felt like a miracle when I could get all our groceries for the week and STILL have money left over.
Now that our financial situation is better, I just can’t imagine going back. So I guess now I coupon because it’s part of my lifestyle. Do I HAVE to coupon? Not really. We’d have enough money to cover our groceries every week…but I’d be paying about twice as much for them. Why do that if I don’t have to? Now I can take that extra money and save it, use it help pay off some of the debt we accumulated when times were tough or put it toward a much needed vacation.
I used to feel sort of miserly, going into the store knowing I didn’t need to use coupons. Like somehow people would know…she makes too much money and doesn’t need to use those! Not anymore though. I think no matter your income, coupons are just a smart choice. Not using them is like turning down a pay raise at work. No one does that!
We had a death in the family last year, right after I became unemployeed. My husband, like yours, is self employeed – enough said. When the family member died, we had 3 extra people move into our home and my husband supported all of us – or tried. In December, we were 3 months behind on our mortgage payment and could not buy groceries anymore. We have 3 children. In January, our “extra” family members moved out. Different family were taking turns buying our groceries. By God’s grace, I found your website. I had NO IDEA what coupons could do for us! So in February I went to the store and purchased groceries for the first time in 3 months (with our own money :)) and saved 83.4% I will never forget the feeling of paying $35 for $150 in groceries. We have a good stockpile now and are begin to help others in need. To watch our children cry because they are so excited that grandpa bought food for us is horrible. It was the lowest/saddest point in our life. Thank you so much for all you do everyday for all of us!!!
I started to coupon cause i am the saver, i always would look for good deals and fanagal 2 birds one stone with finances but did not even know about couponing until the show came on then i asked myself why havent i known about this all these years? I am a young single parent and have no income of my own ive had many jobs the last few years and the loss of each one left me more and more scarred, at the same time my son was in need of attention and major school work help. So i stopped tring to make money so much and more let things progress into a modern stay at home mom whos job is to shop a lot to make and save money and i love it it is a god send and a family affair. thanks to all you who put out your stories of struggle it lets you know ur not the only one!
I started using coupons because we were out of options on how to pay our bills. We were at the point of not being able to pay anymore and didn’t know what to do. Then, one morning my husband and I were watching Fox 13 news and we saw the segment about you and your website on there. From that day on we have used coupons.
I have been frugal as long as I can remember. I started couponing in high school. My parents gave us a certain dollar amount for clothes and supplies needed for school. I always had 3-4x as much clothes as my sister’s and I had tons of school supplies. Walgreens .10 in ad coupons for back to school got me looking for coupons.
When I got pregnant I used coupons for all the baby stuff(she is now 13). I got away from couponing for a little bit because my husband and I were both working full time jobs and I didn’t have the time. I still used coupons but not enough to really help.
Last year I decided that I wanted to stay home with my girls, middle school years proved a little tough and I think it was a good choice to stay home. I quit my high paying job for a lower part time job and started couponing. Since doing so I have been able to get everything needed, a small stockpile(not into getting rooms full of stuff) and we have saved enough to go on a family cruise and have another one almost paid off.
Thanks Liza for all your help… Funny little side note, I found the website while googling for the racetrack free refill cups they had last summer 😉
Liza- can I use this piggy bank picture for my blog? That is *adorable*!